Dispenser Down
by Applecup
Summary: All the BLU Dispenser ever wanted was to be useful to its team...


_Hmmm..._

The BLU Dispenser quietly hummed to itself, merrily minding its own business outside the auxiliary BLU Resupply Room in 2fort. This was not a spot often visited by anyone but the Snipers, and it was in fact for this reason that the Engineer had installed it here; it meant a shorter trip for the Snipers should they find themselves out of ammunition or in need of healing, and – despite the alarmingly high number of Snipers in the vicinity – there were a remarkable lack of Spies.

The Dispenser liked it here, in truth; it was far away from the noise and screams of battle, it wasn't likely to get blown up or shot at or set on fire, and the Snipers, for all that was wrong with them, tended to take their ammo and go rather than chew through the Dispenser's entire ammo supply while standing _right next to it_ and then complain when it took time to refill its supply – like, for example, the BLU Heavy or Pyro.

In fact, the Dispenser's only complaint was that, the Snipers aside, it didn't have many visitors. Even the Engineer had only stuck around to upgrade it, and had then wandered off to repeatedly build the same Level 1 Sentry in the same spot in the middle of the bridge.

It was delighted, therefore, when it saw the BLU Soldier walking up to it, a smile on his face. He looked unwounded, and appeared to have a full complement of ammo, so the Dispenser had no idea what it was he wanted.

_Maybe he wants to visit me_, it reasoned, _to check up on me for Engineer. I know they're close friends..._

Satisfied with this explanation, the Dispenser extended friendly tendrils of healing gases towards the Soldier as soon as he was within range. It extended this courtesy to the whole BLU team, though it was particularly friendly towards the Soldier and Engineer – the latter, for obvious reasons, and the former more than anything because of his closer relationship with the latter.

The Soldier's smile widened at this, and the Dispenser felt itself – entirely irrationally – filled with glee. Making people happy was its job. Making people it liked happy was just icing on the proverbial cake.

The Soldier didn't stop until he reached the Dispenser, who by this time was really curious as to why the Soldier was up here. The BLU man didn't provide any explanation, just petted the top of the machine gently and cooed something in a language that the Dispenser didn't understand – which struck the Dispenser as strange, as the Soldier didn't usually coo so much as scream (especially when around the Engineer, though usually for different reasons than the ones he screamed at the rest of the team for). He also helped himself to some ammunition, which, again, struck the Dispenser as odd – especially since it was Revolver ammunition, like that used by the BLU Spy.

The Dispenser didn't have much time to contemplate this, however, as the Soldier reached inside his jacket and produced a strange yellow metal box with some kind of wires attached to it, which he placed on top of the Dispenser. It felt a little... odd, to be sure, but the fact that the Soldier was smiling suggested to the Dispenser that all was well and there was nothing to be afraid of.

_I wonder if it will be my friend?_

The strange device suddenly clamped down, hard, and the Dispenser knew immediately that the newcomer didn't want to be its friend. Quite the opposite, in fact; the wires that snaked out from its body forced themselves into all the most delicate, sensitive crevices of the Dispenser's design and unleashed a torrent of electro-magnetic energy – paralysing the poor, defenceless Dispenser.

The Dispenser wanted nothing more than to scream, though it had no mouth with which to do so, desperate to howl in pain as the strange device's electrical interference tore apart its delicate circuits. From a way off, it could hear its beloved Engineer responding to its cries of anguish – "_Spah sappin' mah Dispenser!_" – but he sounded so far away, even over the crackling which tore through the Dispenser's whole body. The Dispenser moaned and creaked as it felt its very core being torn apart by the foreign device; the healing gases in its tank bubbled and evaporated away, the ammunition in its drawer heated far beyond safe storage temperatures, the tiny Teleporters at its core whined as they were taxed over and above the design specifications. The Dispenser knew that unless its Engineer got here quickly, it was done for.

_Please_, the Dispenser begged silently, _Save me, Engineer..._

The Engineer, though, was too far away and moving too slowly, and the Snipers were either too slow or stuck in a Respawn cycle or just _didn't care_ and the Dispenser had never felt more alone as it felt its shell buckle, its display warp and flicker, and the lonely machine had given up all but the tiniest spark of hope when it saw its Engineer finally crossing the battlements towards it – grasping his wrench, shoving the oblivious Snipers out the way and running towards the beleaguered BLU building like his life depended on it, and the Dispenser did all it could to hold on as it was ripped apart from the inside by the invading presence.

_Just one moment_, it tried to tell itself, as even its paint began to warp as the shell overheated and the display flickered for the last time, finally failing. _Just one..._

The Dispenser felt its sensors fail for a moment, as well, and panicked. It couldn't see or hear anything, only feel the pain that was tearing through its metal body, and the desire to scream reasserted itself, louder than before, and it was about to give up entirely when a chance spark briefly reconnected the circuits that ran its sensors and-

Time seemed to freeze for a moment. The Engineer was here. The Engineer would remove the invading predator. The Engineer would fix it. Everything was going to be okay.

The Dispenser died happy.

"Well, gosh _darn_ it."

The BLU Engineer was even less impressed when the RED Spy decloaked and sapped _him_, as well.


End file.
